The World Champion Croatia men’s water polo team will play in Group C of the European Championship, set to take place in Barcelona from July 14 to 28, 2018.
The Croatia men’s water polo team has learned of their opponents in the upcoming European Championship, where they will face the Netherlands, Turkey and Greece. The Croatia women’s water polo players, on the other hand, were not as lucky in their draw, placing in Group A with Israel, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Greece, reports Index.hr on March 7, 2018.
The groups were decided in a draw held in Barcelona on Wednesday. For the draw, 16 men’s teams were divided into four groups and 12 women’s teams into two groups.
The draw for the men’s water polo tournament
Group A: Germany, Georgia, Italy, Hungary
Group B: Montenegro, Malta, France, Spain
Group C: CROATIA, The Netherlands, Turkey, Greece
Group D: Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Romania
In the draw, the teams were divided into three groups, the first seeds of which were the four best teams from the last European Championship in Belgrade – Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary and Greece. The second-seeded teams along with Croatia were Spain, Italy and Russia, as they placed between 5th and 8th place in Belgrade. The third-seeded teams were the national teams of France, Georgia, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey.
The competition for the European Championships remains the same, and according to the rules, the four winners of each group will be directly placed into the quarterfinals, while the second and third-placed teams in each group will play for the remaining four places.
Coach Ivica Tucak’s first match will be played against the Netherlands on July 16. The following game will be played against Turkey on July 18, and on July 20, likely the decisive match for first place in Group C will be played against Greece.
The draw for the women’s water polo tournament
Group A: Israel, Netherlands, France, Italy, CROATIA, Greece
Groups B: Serbia, Russia, Hungary, Spain, Turkey, Germany
For the women’s draw, there were four ballot groups. The first seeds were the finalists of the last European Championship – Hungary and Holland – followed by Italy and Spain who played for the bronze in Belgrade. Greece and Russia came next, followed by the six national teams who participated in European Championship qualifiers – Croatia, France, Germany, Israel, Serbia and Turkey.
Dragan Matutinović’s team will play against the Netherlands on July 14, followed by France on July 15, Greece on July 17, Italy on July 19 and Israel on July 21.
The top four teams of the two groups will place into the quarterfinals, and the duels will be formed with the following formula: A1 – B4, A2 – B3, B2 – A3, B1 – A4.
The European Championship in Barcelona will be played at the Bernat Picornell complex, which is located at Montjuïc. The venue hosted water sports competitions at the 1992 Olympics, as well as the World Championships in 2013, and the finals (Final 6) of the Champions League in 2014 and 2015.
Translated from Index.hr
